


I just, really like you, okay?

by dumbee



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: I just really like making my son sad, I wrote it like a year ago and just now finished it, M/M, Some Cursing, Some langst, eventual confessions and happy ending, i don't really know what this is tbh, it's cute i promise, it's really just a lot of fluff tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-07
Updated: 2017-06-07
Packaged: 2018-11-10 09:32:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11124459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dumbee/pseuds/dumbee
Summary: Keith isn't great with his emotions. He never has been, and he never thinks he will be, especially when it comes to love. He'd never been the type to actually develop feelings for someone else, at least, until he'd gone to space with the most obnoxious pilot he'd ever met in his entire life. Now he's stuck in a castle with the same person who claims to be his "rival" and yet is still really nice to him, and is so beautiful Keith doesn't know what to do with himself.





	I just, really like you, okay?

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this, like, a few months before s2 came out so if it's a little off, then that's why. I just thought it was really cute so I finally decided to post it.  
> 

Keith didn’t know what he was doing.

This had never happened to him before, his feelings never escaping past the cage he kept them locked in deep inside of him. He’d never had any use for them, never considered them advantageous in anyway, so he stowed them away, only ever letting out the ghost of what could be considered anger or confusion or whatever he felt in the sad comfort of his home in the desert.  


But this was different, he was no longer sleeping alone, with only the stars and occasional howl from a coyote or whatever else lived in that barren wasteland he called home to accompany him, he was now stuck on a giant castle ship in space with six other people to replace his once comfortable silence.  


And now on top of all that, he had, what, a crush?

Keith didn’t know, during all his time at the Garrison and every other school he could remember he’d never actually liked anyone. Sure, he’d seen some pretty faces and could agree with others that said person was attractive, but this was different. This was much much worse, because the person that he had a crush on, was also his own self-proclaimed rival.  


Keith hadn’t even realized it at first, thinking the only reason that he wanted to be around Lance was to torment him, occasionally putting in a snide comment whenever he did something stupid, or snickering when he messed something up on one of their missions, but he’d always looked at Lance for a beat too long, prompting the brunette idiot to look at him like he’d offended his dead grandmother and say something like “You wanna fight, mullet!?” to which Keith would just roll his eyes and tell him to shut up.  


But it started to get worse. He’d unconsciously trail Lance on missions to make sure he was okay, even stepping in a few times when things got really bad, Lance always turning to him afterwards and telling him thanks and calling him something stupid like “buddy dude” or “my man” and Keith would just momentarily shut down, a blush creeping up his neck to his cheeks, dusting his whole face red.  


He’d always blamed it on the lions being too hot, but Lance, being the oblivious beanpole he was, never seemed to notice, so Keith believed he was safe, and maybe he really was just hot and tired and it was that that had caused him to turn red and not Lance giving him his stupid lopsided grin.  


At one time Lance had been training, actually training and not just goofing off and making bad puns about space, and Keith had joined him, out of pure whim, of course. He’d beaten Lance, but not before the taller boy had put up an impressive fight. What he lacked in skill he more than made up for in vigor.  


It had been a simple training exercise, both of them stripped of their bayards so as to work on hand-to-hand combat and refrain from killing the other.  


“You ready to get pummeled, mullet boy?” Lance had said, grinning and slamming a fist into his hand as though that would intimidate Keith.  


“I’m ready to watch you lose, cargo pilot,” Keith had shot back, a small smile playing at his lips.  


Lance had made the first move, yelling what sounded like a war cry as he rushed at Keith, obviously not planning his attack very well, as Keith was able to simply kick Lance in the back of the knee and get him on his back in a matter of seconds, but Lance wasn’t finished there, as he used his unnecessarily long legs to kick Keith in the shin, throwing him off balance as he jumped back up and kicked Keith squarely in his side.  


Keith hadn’t been expecting this, but shrugged it off as he dodged two punches aimed at his face and hit Lance so hard in the jaw his head snapped backwards. This seemed to only fuel the fire, as Lance let out something that sounded like a growl and slammed his fist into Keith’s cheek, almost knocking him off his feet.  


Keith was getting agitated at this point, and let out his own growl, launching himself at Lance and trying to pin him down. They grappled for what felt like hours, each boy occasionally letting out an animalistic yell accompanied by a string of curses. Wrestling like this hadn’t been Keith’s intention, but he’d been damned if he let himself lose to Lance.  


“Give it up, drop out!” Lance had shouted at him, his fists trying to make contact with any part of Keith’s body.  


“Lance! Just shut up!” Keith shouted back, finally pinning Lance to the floor and catching both of his hands in between his. “What is your problem!?”  


“What do you mean? We’re training!”  


“No,” Keith asserted, “We were training, now we’re just trying to beat the fuck out of each other!”  


“Yeah, that’s the training! Don’t you think the Galra want to beat the fuck out of us too?”  


“Look, Lance,” Keith said, his grip of Lance’s wrists loosening slightly, “What are we really doing?”  


"Well,” Lance said, looking up at him and smirking, “You’re sitting on me and I’m trying to beat the fuck out of you.”  


This caught Keith off guard and once again he froze, already feeling heat rising to his face. Lance hadn’t even said anything blush worthy and there he was, his face getting redder by the second. He really hoped Lance thought it was just exhaustion.  


Keith moved from his spot on top of Lance and instead decided to sit next to him, telling himself if Lance tried anything stupid he’d definitely punch him.  


“Why are you so nice to me?” Lance suddenly asked, his tone now serious.  


“I… what?”  


“I’ve seen it, Keith, I’m not that stupid you know.” Lance said, looking him hard in the eyes.  


“I never said you were stupid Lance,” Keith said, the words starting to pool and pour out of him.  


“Sure, you’re a nuisance, and irresponsible, not to mention childish, lazy, and unorganized, and you’re also a really terrible pilot and…” Keith trailed off, when he noticed Lance was no longer looking at him, but now staring at his hands through squinted eyes.  


“But,” Keith continued, his eyes locked onto Lance’s face, “You’re not stupid. Never stupid. You’re brilliant and brave and kind and sometimes even your bad puns are funny.”  


This got a small laugh from Lance and Keith smiled.  


“And,” he said, hesitating, “You’re my friend, Lance. Even if I do want to punch you most of the time, you are my friend.”  


Lance looked back up at him, all remnants of sadness washed from his face.  


“You consider me a friend?” Lance asked, his voice quiet.  


“Of course, with there only being seven of us trapped in the immense vastness of space, it would be pretty hard to have to live with people I hated.”  


Lance looked as though he was about to cry, but instead just hugged Keith, turning his head so that his mouth was right next to Keith’s ear.  


“That’s good, because it would have been a shame if all you wanted was more space.”  


Lance pulled away barely able to contain the smile that was spreading across his face, and then started laughing, falling over in the process.  


Keith just rolled his eyes and tried to ignore the blush still staining his cheeks.  


“Whatever, dude,” he said, getting off the ground, “Are we done bonding now?”  


Keith stuck out his hand and Lance took it, still grinning like an idiot, as Keith pulled him off the floor.  


“Bonding? Sorry, I don’t remember, didn’t happen.”  


Lance looked Keith in the face again, his eyes crinkling slightly when they meet his, and let go of his hand.  


“I’m gonna go steal some of Hunk’s food goo, you coming?” He asked, already walking away from Keith.  


“Uh.. yeah, I’ll be there in a second, I think I’m going to train some more.” It was the only thing Keith could think of to get Lance’s stupid pretty blue eyes off his mind.  


Lance just shrugged and walked out, but not before pointing finger guns in Keith’s direction and almost tripping when he tried to walk out backwards. And Keith laughed, actually laughed, because this was something only Lance would do, and Lance might have been a lot of things, but it would take quite a lot to change Keith’s mind about the blue paladin.  


He had ended up training for much longer than he’d expected, but every time he thought he’d finally gotten his head on straight, he’d remember Lance’s smile or the way his eyes catch the lights of the castle ship, and train twice as hard.  


He’d been fighting the Gladiator for hours, but wasn’t going to stop until he could sort himself out. This was just what he did, when he had a problem, he would punch something and hope that would resolve it. Usually, however, it wasn’t that easy, especially in this case.  


Keith couldn’t remember when he’d stopped training, but when he woke up, he was exhausted.  


All of his muscles ached and he smelled like sweat, pieces of his fringe matted to his face from working so hard. He was curled up on the floor, his back resting on the wall, so he figured he must have stopped to take a break and fallen asleep.  


There was a peculiar weight on his shoulders, and when he shifted, he saw the familiar army green sleeves of Lance’s jacket on top of him. At first he was surprised, his eyes widening as he touched the fabric, something that was so close to Lance at all times now pressed against his skin.  


He couldn’t remember Lance ever coming back into the training deck, much less him putting his jacket over Keith, and he cringed at the thought of Lance walking in and seeing him like this, hunched over and drooling, but he was also, what, happy? Happy that Lance would even think about coming to check on him? Keith didn’t know, but then again, he never really knew what was going on when it came to Lance.  


Keith yawned and stretched, feeling his back pop as he stood up, Lance’s jacket falling onto the floor behind him. He reached to get it and pressed it to his chest as he picked it up. Keith didn’t know what he was doing, or what he was feeling, or if he was even feeling anything at all.  


He walked out of the training deck and into the halls of the castle ship. He still had no idea where everything was, except for his room, the training deck, kitchen, and the lions, the ship was just that big, and decided to roam the halls. He didn’t know what he wanted to do, but he felt that if he just did something he’d be able to think.  


He walked slowly through the castle’s halls, staring out the windows into the darkness of space as he passed them. It seemed as though it could never be day as long as he was out here, the stars may have been bright, but they were nothing compared to the desert sun in the summer.  


He remembered how loud it could be in the desert as well, lonely half-dead trees full of cicadas screeching like there was no tomorrow, but here, there was nothing but silence, even if all you wanted was a little noise, a little reminder that you weren’t as alone as you thought you were.  


Keith’s thoughts were interrupted as he realized where his feet had taken him. He was standing in front of the entrance of the hanger where the lions were kept. He decided that as long as he was there, he could take Red out for a ride before he went to sleep, and return Lance’s jacket in the morning.  


Keith entered the hanger and approached Red when he heard a voice coming from near by, so he ducked under one of Red’s legs and listened, hoping the voice hadn’t heard his footsteps.  


“...and it’s like, they don’t think I’m capable of anything, Blue,” the voice said, shaky and hoarse as though it had been crying.  


“And I don’t know what to do, when all I want is for them to accept me but I know that can never happen because all anyone sees me as is someone to make fun of and someone who can’t be trusted to do anything important. And it hurts, Blue, it really does, and I try to hide it but I know eventually they’ll find out, and then what? They’ll tell me that it’s true and that all I do is fuck up and I can’t be trusted. All I want is to go home, Blue, I just want to go home.”  


Keith sucked in a breath, realizing quickly exactly who that voice belonged to.  


“Lance?” Keith’s voice was barely a whisper, but he heard a gasp from the blue lion, meaning Lance must have heard him.  


“Keith?” Lance whispered back, his voice cracking.  


Keith moved from his spot behind Red’s leg, and went to the blue lion, facing it, hoping to be able to see a glimpse of Lance, but all he could see was the underside of the lions chin.  


“Lance…. Are you alright?”  


Without answering, the lion’s head lowered and its mouth opened, allowing Keith to step inside as it rose back to full height and closed once more. Keith moved quickly to the cockpit, where he finally saw Lance. His face was stained with tears and his eyes were puffy and red as he looked back at Keith from his seat, a sad smile stretching across his face.  


“Hey, mullet,” he said, as though Keith couldn’t see that he’d obviously been bawling only moments before.  


Keith hesitated, his mind working in two directions at once. Keith didn’t know how to deal with his own emotions, much less other people’s, and he didn’t know whether to comfort Lance or leave him be, so he stayed quiet.  


“I’m sorry you had to see me like this,” Lance said, his voice still raspy. He wasn’t looking at Keith but rather out the window of the blue lion, staring at an unseen point in the room.  


“It’s not always this bad, I just… I’m tired, Keith.” This time Lance did look back to Keith, and Keith almost cracked inside. The boy he saw wasn’t the Lance he knew, the one who joked beyond belief and could turn any situation positive in a matter of minutes.  


But then again, maybe the Lance he knew wasn’t the real Lance. Maybe this was the real Lance, hurt and tired, hiding behind humor to disguise his insecurities.  


A long moment of silence passed between them, before Lance sighed again and started to talk, staring at the keys of his control panel.  


“I’ve… I’ve never been good with how I am. My emotions, I mean. It’s just like, I have so fucking many, dude, and if I express them I’m ridiculed, but if I don’t, I’m shunned. And so I try to be funny, I try to be likable, I try to be everything everyone wants me to be, but it’s exhausting, Keith. I’m just tired. I’m tired of having to be so many people at once and never really being me because I’m so scared that everyone will leave me… I’m scared that you’ll leave me.”  


Keith’s heart felt like it was going to burst. He could feel the all too familiar blush starting to spread across his face as his pulse quickened and his eyes widened, his breath hitching in his throat. Lance couldn’t be serious, could he? This was hardly the time for humor but Lance was Lance, and how did he even mean it? Keith was so confused, all these new feelings bubbling up inside of him, threatening to burst out in a matter of moments.  


Neither of them said anything for a long time, Lance still staring at the floor, before he simply got up and started to leave.  


“I’m really sorry about this,” Lance said, wiping his eyes with the palm of his hand, “You can tell the others if you want, I don’t really care anymore.”  


Lance tried to pass Keith, but Keith moved into his path. He was still quiet but his mind was moving at a mile a minute.  


“No.” He said, his voice barely audible.  


“What?”  


“I said no,” Keith said, louder this time. He was tired too. Tired of being confused and sad and of all the nights he had to spend alone, silently trying to figure out why he was even alive.  


“I’m not going to tell the others, and I’m not going to let you walk out of here, Lance,” Keith was serious now, staring straight into the deep blue pools of the taller boy's eyes.  


“I’m sorry, Lance. I just… fuck… I don’t know man, I’m tired too. I’m tired of being alone, and not knowing what to do, and only having myself to rely on. It feels like my head is going to burst sometimes and I just want it all to stop, you know? And then there’s you and I don’t want to lose you, dear God, I don’t want to lose you, but how can I stay with you if I can’t even find myself. It’s just all a-fucking-lot and I’m sick of it, Lance, I just want to be okay and I don’t know how to do that. I don’t know how to be okay but I want to be and I want to be okay with you.”  


Keith was crying now too, warm tears running down his face.  


He felt like he was crumbling, but there Lance was crying with him and hugging him. Hugging him so close and so hard Keith thought he could feel his ribs cracking and he couldn’t breathe, but he didn’t care because he was there with Lance and he was hugging Lance back, God, and they were there together, holding each other and crying because life was tough goddammit and sometimes all someone needs is to finally tell you how they feel and cry.  


They stayed like that for a long time, even after the crying stopped, holding each other so close that Keith could clearly hear Lance’s heart beating against his. But, for once, they weren’t fighting, they weren’t even talking, they were just… being, together. Keith liked this a lot better.  


“I actually don’t hate you right now,” he heard Lance say, his chin resting on top of Keith’s head.  


Keith started to laugh, it started slowly as just a snicker, but then turned into a genuine laugh, because there he was, hugging the person he liked the most in the whole world, in the whole universe, and they had just been crying together and it was funny. Lance started to laugh too, his body shaking so hard that he had to separate from Keith and grab a wall to keep himself from toppling over.  


“You… really are… dumb,” Keith said, wheezing out the words in between laughing fits.  


“And… so… are you,” Lance barked back, wiping his eyes again.  


When the laughter died down, they both stood there for a while, just looking at each other. Lance smiled, finally, and Keith felt like he was going to die while also feeling a heavy weight lifting from him at the same time.  


“I’m sorry, Keith,” Lance said, breaking the silence, “About earlier I mean, I just let my emotions get out of control and I thought fighting might help but then all I did was kick your ass and that made me feel like shit-”  


Keith put one of his hands over Lance’s mouth, so whatever Lance was saying turned to muffled nonsense.  


“First off,” he said, “You didn’t kick my ass, I kicked yours, and I’ll do it again, and secondly… I don’t blame you. Why do you think I’m in the training deck all the time? Because I like to train? I mean, I do, but it’s more than that. It’s like if I can just use my body to do something, I can think straight and I don’t feel so fucking frazzled all the time, even when your dumb cute face is the only thing I can think about at the time, I can just get out all my feelings there and be better off during missions.”  


Lance stared at Keith, and moved Keith’s hand from his mouth to hold it in his palm.  


“Did… did you just say you think I’m cute?”  


“What? I-,” Keith froze, his mind quickly replaying everything that he had just said to Lance. Keith felt like dying all over again, but this time he truly did want to eject himself into space and stay there. And his hand was still in Lance’s, and Lance was so fucking warm for some reason and Keith knew he was blushing again, and that he should say something but all he could think of was diving head first out of Blue’s mouth, but obviously that wasn’t an option.  


“I-I didn’t….” Keith couldn’t even finish his denial, and Lance’s grip on his hand was tightening, but not in a bad way, though it didn’t matter because Keith wasn’t going to be able to bounce back from this.  


“You can’t lie to me now Keith, I heard you and so did Blue. So many compliments today, I mean, I can’t blame you, I am pun-derful so it only makes sense for someone such as yourself to have a crush on someone as great as I am.”  


“Lance, I swear to God, I’ll punch you in the face right now,” Keith said, his face still red.  


“But,” Lance said, looking at Keith as though he was annoyed for being interrupted, “I also… well you’re…. you’ve got a good… face.”  


Keith could tell Lance was getting flustered from the way his hand squeezed his own and the fact that he was turning a shade of red Keith had never seen him turn before.  


“Did you… are you calling me cute?”  


“I…. maybe,” Lance wasn’t looking at Keith anymore, but at their now entwined fingers.  


“Maybe?” Keith questioned, his heart beating twice as fast than he ever thought was possible. Lance still wouldn’t look at him, but instead decided to pull Keith closer, so that their faces were only inches apart. Keith could feel Lance’s breath on his lips.  


Lance’s answer came out as no more than a mumble of something that sounded very vaguely like ‘yes’ before he pressed his lips to Keith’s.  


Keith gasped when Lance’s mouth met his, his heart beating so hard and his head spinning so quickly he thought he might die. Lance was everything Keith thought he would be, his lips were soft and warm, and a surprisingly good kisser. Keith would have to ask him where he learned his skill one day.  


Both boys were getting needy, Lance pulling Keith closer and running his fingers through Keith’s hair as Keith grabbed at the fabric of Lance’s shirt. Clinging. Wanting.  


They broke apart, both breathing heavily, having forgotten that kissing meant no air, and stared at each other, mesmerized.  


“You’re pretty good at that,” Lance said, his hands still tangled in Keith’s hair, their foreheads pressed together. “For a drop out, I mean.”  


“You’re not too bad yourself,” Keith shot back, “For a cargo pilot.”  


They stared at each other for a long while, neither boy speaking, but neither boy pulling away. Keith thought that he preferred Lance this way.  


“So…” Lance was the one to break the silence, moving his hands from Keith’s hair and instead choosing to play with his hands instead, holding them close to his heart. “What does this mean? For us, I mean?”  


“Isn’t it obvious?” Keith asked, though he didn’t know if anything was obvious and instead decided to guess at the situation. “We like each other,” he said plainly.  


“Oh, wow, who could have guessed that one, good job Sherlock,” Lance retorted.  


Keith glared up at Lance, “You know I can un-like you right now--”  


“No! Babe! Kidding! I’m kidding!”  


“Oh, what, so we’re doing pet names now?”  


“I mean you’ve been calling me ‘cargo pilot’ since we met so if you really want to get into pet names--”  


Keith pulled Lance into another kiss, this one more natural and easy, effectively shutting him up.  


“I really do like you,” Lance said when they parted, the same entranced look glossing over his face, Keith’s hands still in his.  


“I like you too,” Keith said back, leaning into Lance, before he remembered the original reason he’d come to the hanger.  


“I, um, thanks for your jacket by the way,” he pulled his hands back and reached behind him, picking up the discarded piece of fabric from where he’d dropped it.  


“You didn’t have to do that, really, and I appreciate it, so thank you,” he said, pushing the jacket into Lance’s chest.  


Lance looked at it in surprise, half forgetting that he’d even given it to Keith, and smiled,  


“Anytime, mullet boy.”  


Keith just rolled his eyes at Lance, “so what do we tell Allura? And everyone else? They’ll get suspicious if we suddenly start getting along.”  


“Oh, don’t worry, I will still continue to pester the living daylights out of you,” Lance said, his trademark smirk returning to his face, “but for now… how about we go for a little space joyride?”  


“Only if I get to sit in your lap.”  


“But of course, your majesty.”  


The blue and red paladins of Voltron were home late that night, and when asked the next day over a breakfast of food goo and something that could only be described as cubed orange juice, what they had been up to, both simply shrugged, their fingers locking together under the dining table, and smiles spreading over their faces.


End file.
